Game 3 of the World Series is a go, and we’ll be providing live updates throughout the night. Follow along, reading from top to bottom.

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Cardinals magic man Allen Craig, finally drawing a start under American League rules, sent a sky-high blast deep over the left field fence to give St. Louis a 1-0 first-inning lead. It was only Craig’s third plate appearance of the Fall Classic, but the solo shot gave him his third RBI. The Rangers’ Matt Harrison needed 20 pitches to get through the frame.

The seven-game World Series is tied at a game apiece. The Cards have the early advantage in Game 3.

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Lohse ran into some trouble in the bottom of the second inning, yielding a single to Adrian Beltre and issuing a walk to Nelson Cruz. But he battled through, keeping St. Louis’ 1-0 lead intact heading into the third.

The Cardinals could not add to that advantage in their half of the inning as the Rangers finally figured out a way to retire Craig. The Rangers will bat in the bottom of the third still facing an early one-run deficit.

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Kinsler drew a one-out walk off Lohse in the bottom of the third, but Andrus and Hamilton both lined out. Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina made sure to keep Kinsler close to the first base bag, at one point attempting a throw-behind-him pickoff. St. Louis still leads 1-0 in Game 3 as we move along to the fourth.

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Albert Pujols opened the top of the fourth with a single to left field. Then came a bit of controversy.

Matt Holliday hit an easy double-play ball to short, but Kinsler’s relay to first base pulled Mike Napoli off the bag. Napoli was able to apply the tag to a charging Holliday, but the first base umpire missed the call. Holliday advanced to second base moments later when Lance Berkman hit a single to right field, then scored when NLCS MVP David Freese trickled a double down the first-base line.

An intentional walk of Molina followed, loading the bases for Jon Jay, who stepped to the plate with an 0-for-8 line in this Fall Classic. Jay hit a soft tapper to first base, but the Rangers couldn’t convert a throw home. The ball went to the backstop and two runs scored, giving the Cardinals a 4-0 lead in the top of the fourth.

The flood gates stayed open in the next at-bat, when Ryan Theriot singled to left field to drive in Molina, securing the Cardinals a five-run lead. The Rangers recorded their second out against the next better, Rafael Furcal, but Harrison was pulled from the game in favor of reliever Scott Feldman.

Harrison allowed five runs — three earned — in just 3 2/3 innings of work. He threw 73 pitches, 42 for strikes.

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In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Rangers finally got on the board when Michael Young launched a leadoff solo home run over the right field fence. The shot awoke the Arlington, Texas crowd.

Beltre followed with a single through the left side of the infield and Cruz moved the Rangers to within two runs just a couple of pitches later, lifting a two-run homer to almost the exact same spot as Young’s. Napoli hit a base hit up the middle in the next at-bat, driving Lohse from the game.

The Cardinals’ first reliever of the night, Fernando Salas, induced a grounder from David Murphy to record the first out of the inning. Yorvit Torrealba then singled, but Kinsler flew out to right field one batter later and Holliday was able to throw out a tagging Napoli with a strike to home plate for the third out.

St. Louis leads 5-3 as this thrilling World Series Game 3 carries on to the top of the fifth inning.

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Pujols led off the fifth inning in the very same way he led off the fourth, stroking a single to left field. Holliday and Berkman then walked, setting up a bases loaded situation for the hot-hitting Freese.

Freese was retired after shattering his bat on a groundout, but Pujols scored from third base to give the Cardinals a 6-3 lead. And Molina made it 8-3 when he laced a two-run double down the left field line.

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In the bottom half of the frame, Texas’ quick-strike offense answered again. Andrus and Hamilton led off with back-to-back singles, then Young hit an RBI double past a diving Freese. The Cardinals pulled Salas and brought in bearded right-hander Lance Lynn to protect their wavering four-run Game 3 lead.

But Lynn couldn’t completely stop the bleeding. Beltre, Lynn’s first batter, lifted an RBI single just over the glove of a jumping Furcal to move the Rangers within three. Cruz struck out in the next at-bat, but Napoli plated Young from third base when he hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field. Cardinals 8, Rangers 6.

Lynn then issued back-to-back walks to Murphy and Torrealba, but got Kinsler to pop out to end the threat.

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In the top of the sixth inning, the Rangers turned to Alexi Ogando. But even he couldn’t quiet the Cardinals’ bats. Theriot drew a leadoff walk, Furcal punched a single through the right side of the infield, and Pujols destroyed a letters-high fastball off the facing of the second deck in left field. Cardinals 11, Rangers 6.

Andrus then fumbled a grounder from Holliday, Berkman singled on a liner to right, and Freese drew a walk to push Ogando from the game. Lefty Mike Gonzalez entered to face Molina with the bases juiced.

Molina came through, hitting a sacrifice fly to right field to score Holliday from third. Cardinals 12, Rangers 6.

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Andrus led off the bottom of the sixth with a single to right field, his second hit of the night, but Hamilton hit into a double play and Young struck out for a rare quiet frame. Lynn, a former starter, looked to be settled.

The Cardinals poured on a couple more runs in the top of the seventh courtesy of Pujols’ second home run of the night — this one a bomb to deep left-center. Craig drew a walk in front of him to set up the two-run blast.

Pujols, who took criticism for ditching the media following Game 2’s late-innings loss, is now 4-for-5 on the evening with three runs scored and five RBI. Our guess is he’ll be talking plenty after this one.

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Beltre opened the bottom of the seventh inning with a leadoff double and advanced to third base one batter later on a Nelly Cruz flyout. As Holliday was throwing the ball back to the infield, a fan in the bleachers threw a wiffle ball near the Cardinals left fielder. That fan was ejected moments later.

Beltre then tagged and scored from third base on a Mike Napoli sac fly. Cardinals 14, Rangers 7.

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Berkman fanned on a 3-2 pitch to open the top of the eighth inning, but Freese then singled and Molina drove in pinch-runner Daniel Descalso with a double to the left-center field gap. Cardinals 15, Rangers 7.

Torrealba led off the bottom of the eight with a single to right, but he was retired at second base on a Kinsler grounder. Andrus followed with a strikeout and Hamilton was set down on a groundout to short.

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Furcal struck out looking as the ninth inning’s first hitter and Craig was retired on a groundout to third. Then Pujols launched his third dinger of the night, a shot into the left field seats. Cardinals 16, Rangers 7. Only Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson had homered three times in a World Series game. Pujols is now the third to accomplish the feat.

Cardinals reliever Mitchell Boggs closed it all out with a perfect bottom half. St. Louis gets the 16-7 win.

Are you listening to the announcers? Really? Kinda like watching a movie to see the scene discrepencies- you lose the real plot ..

presidentmiraflores - Oct 22, 2011 at 9:15 PM

I can’t speak for anyone else, but listening to the broadcast, poor as it is, doesn’t prevent me from thinking for myself, and this isn’t a football game, so it’s not like I can’t see the action (except when the editors think we’d rather see close-ups of the fans, etc.).

Thanks for your concern, though.

baccards - Oct 22, 2011 at 9:27 PM

Your tolerance for the inane banter is admirable. I try every once in a while to listen..I just can’t take it

presidentmiraflores - Oct 22, 2011 at 9:31 PM

I know what you mean. I used to listen to the radio when Joe Buck was calling a game, but the radio was ahead of the tv broadcast, and I got tired of hearing the action before I saw it. My Buck-McCarver tolerance used to be much lower, but now my goal is to try to get more amusement out of their lousiness than frustration.

Sorry I got all pissy in my reply.

cur68 - Oct 22, 2011 at 9:38 PM

You guys here how Mike Young changed positions multiple times without complaining? That’s what these 2 egg heads calling the game just told me. Here I was thinking he whined like a 2 year old over it.

cur68 - Oct 22, 2011 at 8:38 PM

Maybe we can have a “Trash Mike Young” live blog…where is that strike zone?

yep should have been Cardinal 1000th dp, or so Damn they hit into alot of them

drmonkeyarmy - Oct 22, 2011 at 9:26 PM

Yeah, he was definitely out. However, it was a terrible throw by Kinsler. The umpire shouldn’t of even had to make a call like that.

drmonkeyarmy - Oct 22, 2011 at 9:28 PM

Oh, so whoever gave the thumbs down thought it was a good throw by Kinsler?

presidentmiraflores - Oct 22, 2011 at 9:34 PM

Monkey, I’m guessing the thumbs down was from someone who thinks that the ump should have to make any kind of call he has to make and should get them right. I know that sounds like I’m slamming you, but I’m honestly just trying to present what someone else may have thought if he were to focus on the wrong part of what you wrote.

Personally, I gave you a thumbs up, because you’re right that Kinsler put Napoli in a pretty bad spot with that awful throw.

drmonkeyarmy - Oct 22, 2011 at 9:36 PM

I agree, the umpire should make the right call. It seemed like an obvious call and he should have gotten it right. However, in that situation Kinsler, with his bad throw allowed an opportunity for a bad call.

The Baseball Idiot - Oct 23, 2011 at 4:51 AM

He made the only call he could make. He was blocked from view of the tag because Napoli’s body was in the way. He didn’t see the tag, and can’t assume the tag was made. He made the only call he could make, and everyone should leave him alone.

As far as that point. What I don’t get, and where he did fail, was when he didn’t ask for help. At least I didn’t see him ask. The Right Field umpire is stationed on the line and didn’t need to move for the play. He and the Home Plate umpire both were looking down the line form opposite angles. I can’t believe one of them didn’t see something different.

The call was right as far as it could go. Not asking for help was completely wrong.

Of course, giving up a single, a double, a walk, and an error had absolutely nothing to do with the call either, as that would have not been the last out of the evening.

Oh yeah, Rangers fans and advocates of instant replay, Jay was safe at the plate in the 4th inning. If you want to bitch about one call, bitch about all of them.

paperlions - Oct 23, 2011 at 7:44 AM

He fucked up an easy call. If he was blocked by Napoli’s body, then he was in the wrong position. These kinds of tag plays happen all the time and umps get them right…even when they are much closer than this play. He missed the call, an easy call, and then compounded it by not getting help….I would be shocked if every other up on the IF didn’t see the play and know he missed it.

The Baseball Idiot - Oct 23, 2011 at 6:21 PM

No, he was in exactly the right position, as prescribed by the umpires training. He was exactly where he was supposed to be. No one can anticipate where a wild throw will go and where the fielder will have to to get it.

The reason he is in that position is because other umpires can see what he can’t.

If he can’t see the tag, he can’t call him out. He made the right call, as far as he was able to.

Not asking for help was the problem.

baccards - Oct 22, 2011 at 9:07 PM

Lohse ok thru the lineup for the second time..hang on, and watch for the quick hook if he stumbles on the 3rd round

how a team reacts to the calls is important.. but totally agree about the call and the erratic strike zone

drmonkeyarmy - Oct 22, 2011 at 9:33 PM

Yeah, I agree the call was missed at first. Still, it was a terrible throw by Kinsler. If he makes a decent throw we aren’t having this conversation right now. He got all casual and put the umpire in a position to blow a call. The strike zone is bizarre for both teams.

About the slide (not Biggio), yeah. Maybe head first? But wide of the base, reach for it & Yaddi never gets him. Running the bags is not Naploi’s strong suit. Maybe that’s why Scocia had it in for him?